Conveyer for bottle-washing machine



Aug. 6, 1940. J. R. DOSTAL 2.210.529

CONVEYER FOR BOTTLE-WASHING MACHINE Filed Oct. 26, 19:59 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 v 2o 4/ 20 H lnvantnr' 5 ,3 m M .J.R.Dc15tal fitturnega J-. R. DQSTAL CONVEYER FOR BOTTLE-WASHING MACHINE Aug. 6, 1940.

, Filed Oct. 26, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventur l.H--1:| ns'tal fitturneg's Patented Aug. 6, 1940 John a. Dostal, Milwaukee, Wis, assignor, by direct and mesne assignments, to Sturdy-Bill: Equipment Corporation, Milwaukee, Wis.

Application October 26, 1939, Serial No. 301,410

Claims.

This invention appertains to bottle-washing machines, and is an improvement over the, machine shown in Patent No. 2,094,398, issued to me September 28, 1937. a

In my mentioned patent, I illustrated sliding latch plates for engaging and holding a plurality of bottles on an endless conveyer or carrier.

The present invention has for one of its primary objects the provision of means for improv- 0 ing the bottle neck latching device, whereby narrow-neck bottles (such as beer bottles) can be,

conveniently locked and carried either at their bottle cap flange or the ridge or neck flange near the body of the bottle.

Another salient object of my invention is to provide novel grid members located adjacent the bottle loading and unloading ends of thewashing machine for engaging the bottle necks, whereby to limit the insertion of the bottles in the carriers,

and to line up the necks toiacilitate the latching,

wedge plate for bringing about the movement of the latch plates to their locking positions.

Figure 9 is a detail, side, elevational view of the cam plate or trackior moving the latch plates to their bottle-releasing positions.

Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein similar reference, characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter M generally indicates a bottle-washing machine, which includes an endless conveyer 0 belt B.

The present invention resides in the novel means of handling the bottles, and, hence, the machine M can be considered of any preferred characten'and only suflicient portions thereof have been illustrated to show the use of the belt.

. The washing machine M may include a casing in having spaced, parallel side walls ll and i2, and a top wall l3. The top wall I3 and the side walls II and ii are so constructed as to provide 120 thereof and to facilitate the raising and removal \an opening in the casing l0, whereby the bottles of the bottles from the conveyer after the bottles have been washed. V

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement, and Iormatienof partsf-as-will be hereinafter more specifically described, claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which drawings:

Figurel is a fragmentary, longitudinal, sec-' tional view taken through a bottle-washing machine constructed in accordance with my invention, the view being taken substantially on the line l-i of Figure 2.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the washing machine constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 3 is an enlarged, detail, fragmentary,

longitudinal, sectional view through a portion of the machine, taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2,

looking in the direction'of the arrows.

Figure 4 is a horizontal, sectional view taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4, the section being taken substantially onthe line 5 5 oi. Figure 1, looking in the direction oi thearrows.

, Figure 6 is a detail, sectional view. taken on the linJfi-i of Figure 5, looking in the direction 01 its bottle cap flangei'f.

' direction in the casing.

the arrows, showing a bottle'latched and held at '1 is 'a' vleiw'siniilar to Figure 6, but" Figure la are at side elevationai view or the can be placed on and-removed from the belt B.

The inner faces of the side walls I l and I! of the, casing are provided with upper and lower runway tracks l4 and i5, over' which the belt travels; and 25 means is provided for forcibly driving the belt so that the same will continuously travel in one The conveyer belt B comprises a plurality of transversely extending flights or links i6, and 80 each of these flights or links It includes amain body portion H, which is of hollow construction for slidably receiving and guiding'the latch plates W. The ends of the body portions ll of the links or flights carry ears, whereby the same can be 35 hingedly connected by pivot pins l9. These pivot pins l9 carry anti-friction rollers 20 for engaging the tracks i4 and i5.

The upper and lower walls of the hollow body portion l! are provided with alined openings 2| 0 for receiving the elongated necks 22 of the bottles 23. The bottles can be of any preferred shape or charactenbut, as illustrated, the same are of the conventional beer bottle type, and," hence, the necks have secured thereon a bottle cap sealing 5 flange 24 and a bottleneck flange or ridge 25. I The latch plate Hi can be employed for locking the bottles to the links or flights either at the. bottle cap flange v24 or at the neck flange or ridge 25. Each of the sliding latch plates l8 has formed )therein a longitudinally extending row of equidistantly-spaced keyhole slots 26. Whenthe enlarged portions 21 of the keyhole slots aline with the openings 2|, bottle necks can be easily inas serted or removed from the links or flights Hi. When the narrow portions 28 of the keyhole slots move past the openings 2i, the walls of the narrow portions of the slots are adapted to grip and engage the necks of the bottles inwardly of the cap flanges 24 or the neck flanges 25, as the 1. at the right-hand side of the machine.

To bring about the automatic locking and releasing of the bottles, the machine, at the lefthand side thereof, is provided with a latching trip shoe 30. This shoe is in the nature of a bracket and is securely bolted,.as at 3!, to the side wall ll"of the body of the machine. The bracket 30 has formed thereon or secured thereto the wedge-shaped plate 32. As the flights ride toward the left-hand endvof the machine, the upstanding lugs 29 thereof engage the inclined surface of the wedge-shaped plate 32, and this inclined surface gradually moves the latch pla'tes inwardly, as is clearly shown in Figure 4 of the drawings, to their latching positions. Thus, an

- operator is positioned at the left-hand side of slide inwardly to their locking positions.

At the right-hand side of the machine, I provide a releasing or trip shoe 33. This releasing shoe 33 includes a bracket 34, which is securely bolted, as at 35, to the slide wall ii of the body of the machine, and this bracket carries an inclined cam track 36. As the flights l6 carrying the bottles ride toward the cam tracks 36, the lugs 29 on the latch plates engage the tracks, and the tracks slide the plates outwardly, and aline the enlarged portions 27 of the keyhole slots with the openings 2|; and, thus, an opera tor standing at the right-hand side of the machine can pull the bottles from the conveyer belt.

In order to facilitate the proper lining up of the bottles transversely of the machine, so that the same will all be simultaneously latched by the latch plates I8, I provide a grid 31 at the left-hand side of the machine. This grid includes guide bars 38 connected by cross-pieces 39, which can *be securely anchored to the side walls II and 12 of the body of the machine, or to the track M. The forward ends of the bars 38 are inclined downwardly, as at $0. When the bottles are inserted in the links or flights, the lower ends thereof ride on the forward inclined portions 40 of the bars 38, and these bars gradually push the bottles upwardly and hold flights; hence, I dispose a grid 4| at the righthand or unloading side of the machine. This. grid M is similar to the grid 31, and, hence, includes a plurality of longitudinally extending, equidistantly spaced bars 42, having their leading ends inclined downwardly, as at 53. The bars 42 are connected by crosspieces M, and the grid is securely fastened to the machine. As the washed bottles ride toward the grid M, the necks thereof will engage the inclined portions 43 thereof, and the bottle necks will ride up on the bars 62. If any of the bottles are pushed down in the flights, the bottles will slide up in the flights and latch plates, which will facilitate the movement of the latch plates to their open positions.

In Figure 6 of the drawings, the grid 4| is shown arranged relatively close to the links,

and, thus, the bottle necks will be held adjacent their bottle cap flanges 24. In Figure '7, the grid is shown spaced a slight distance from the links of the conveyer belt, and, hence, the bottles will be latched adjacent their bottle neck flanges. 25.

From the foregoing description, it can be seen that I have provided an exceptionally simple and durable mechanism for facilitating the latching and releasing of bottles from the endless carriers of bottle-washing machines.

Changes in details may be made without departing from the spirit or the scope of my invention, but what I claim as new is:

1. In a bottle-washing machine, a casing, an endless conveyer for longitudinal travel in the casing including a plurality of pivotally connected, transversely extending flights having bottle neck-receiving openings therein, latch plates slidably mounted on the flights for releasably gripping the bottle necks when the latch plates are in one position, and for releasing the bottle necks when in another position, means for automatically sliding the slide plates longitudinally on the flights at certain predetermined times, and means rigidly secured to the casing and independent of the conveyer and disposed in the path of the travel of the bottles for elevating the bottles in the conveyer to a bottle-locking position.

2. In a bottle-washing machine, a casing, an

endless conveyer for longitudinal travel in the h casing including a plurality of pivotally connected, transversely extending flights having bottle neck-receiving openings therein, latch plates slidably mounted on the flights for releasably gripping the bottle necks when the latch plates are in one position, and for releasing the bottle necks when in another position, means for automatically sliding the slide plates longitudinally on the flights at certain predetermined times,.

means secured to the casing independent of the conveyer and disposed in the path of travel of the bottles for elevating the bottles in said conveyer to a bottle-locking position, and means for sup porting and raising the bottles at the unloading end of the machine, whereby to facilitate the releasing of the, bottles by the latch plates.

3. In a bottle-washing machine, a casing, an endless conveyer for longitudinal travel in the casing including a plurality of pivotally connected, transversely extending flights having bottle neck-receiving openings therein, latch plates slidably mounted on the flights for releasably gripping the bottle necks when the latch plates are in one position, and for releasing the bottle necks when in another position, means for automatically sliding the latch plates'longitudinally on the flights at certain predetermined times,

amma and means rigidly secured to the casing located at the unloading end of the machine for supporting and alining the bottles independently of the conveyer during the releasing of the bottles by the latch plates.

4. In a bottle-washing machine, a casing, an endless conveyer for longitudinal travel in the casing including a plurality of pivotally connected, transversely extending flights having bottle neck-receiving openings therein, bottles having bottle cap-locking flanges thereon adapted to be loosely placed in said openings, latch plates slidably carried by-the flights for releasably gripping the bottle necks just above said flanges when the latch plates are in one position, and for releasing the bottle necks when in another position, means for automatically sliding the plates longitudinally of the flights atcertain times, and means rigidly secured to the casing independently of the conveyer and disposed in the path of the travel of the bottles for elevating the bottles in said conveyer to a bottle-locking position with the flanges just inward of the latch plates.

5. In a bottle-washing machine, a casing, an

endless conveyer for travel longitudinally of the casing including a plurality of pivotally transverselysextending flights having bottle neck-receiving openings therein, latch plates slidably mounted on the flights for releasably gripping the bottle necks when the latch plates are in one position and for releasing the bottle necks when the latch plates are in another position, means for automatically sliding the latch plates longitudinally in the flights at certain predetermined times, and means rigidly carried by the casing for engaging the outer ends of the bottle necks for supporting the bottles independent of the conveyer at the loading and unloading stations and during movement of the latch plates, whereby to facilitate the locking and unlocking oi. the bottle necks by the latch plates.

' JOHN R. DOSTAL. 

